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6 Steps for Roofers Selling Upgrades and Additional Exterior Projects

Up-selling products and services to a homeowner in addition to their roofing needs can be a contractor’s secret weapon when it comes to generating more profits. While creating these kinds of programs requires a significant upfront investment in employee resources and certifications, roofers will ultimately see the long-term benefits to their bottom line.

It’s not all about profits, though - up-selling should also be about providing your customer with the very best service and products possible. When you look at up-selling from this viewpoint, not only will these additional services generate more profits for your roofing business, but you will provide your customer with a better experience and quality workmanship on their home, which can translate to better reviews, referrals and continued profits.

Step 1: Developing Programs to Generate Profit

Diversifying the type of roofing and exterior contracting services that your business offers can be the biggest hurdle when it comes to expansion. However, the more service applications you can offer to a potential customer, the more likely they will be to want to work with you; a single contractor who can take care of all their needs.

Maintenance programs, sustainable or green product options and additional exterior work require certified employees for each program, which means spending money - just remember that the development of these programs is an investment in your business.

Maintenance Enrollment Programs:

Extending the warranty of a roof through a maintenance program enrollment is one way to help your customer understand the benefits of investing in their roof through you for the long-term.

“...maintenance has other benefits including reducing waste, improving the building environment, and avoiding extensive internal damages due to leaks. But one must consider the overall life cycle cost as an important real benefit from maintenance.”

Offering a discount on continued maintenance services can extend the profit cycle of your customer, as well as help them maintain the value and investment into their home.

Sustainability Programs:

“Going-green” is a hot-button topic for a lot of industries, and the roofing sector is no exception. Your customer is likely already making a significant investment into their home, and you can use this to help them make that investment even more impactful.

"On average, consumers will pay 10% more for green products and services." [source]

Having a line of sustainable, or recycled material supplies gives you additional options to offer your customers at a premium.

Exterior Upgrades:

While your sales teams are inspecting the roof, it’s a good time to do a quality-check over the entire home. Gutters, windows and siding may also require repair or updating. Having programs in place to offer these services to a homeowner can have a huge impact on the final cost of a project - and the homeowner will be more likely to want to work with a single contractor, rather than searching for several specialized companies. Offering discounts on these services to go through you, rather than your competition can also help with the up-sell.

Make sure that your teams are familiar with all of your service offerings, the benefits and costs associated with those add-ons. Providing training or certification programs is key in helping your teams understand what the are selling, and the value to the homeowner. Teams that are properly trained will also ensure that sales pitches are accurate, costs are correct and workmanship meets your company’s quality standards.

Step 3: Consider Your Customers Needs, and How You Can Meet Them

The first step to up-selling like a pro is understanding what you can offer any individual customer, based on their needs. Listening to your customer first and foremost will help your sales teams determine which products to potentially offer, based on the condition of their home, and their interests.

If your client has expressed interest in creating a more styled look, then suggesting architectural shingles instead of normal three tab shingles is a perfect up-sell, one that they will love and you will profit from. Another client may live in a state where hail and storms are common, so recommending they upgrade to lifetime warranty products really is in their best interest. In both of these cases, you are still up-selling to your client, but you are doing so in a way that is actually beneficial to them rather than needlessly ratcheting up the price.

Step 4: Back-Up Your Pitch with Data

An essential part of up-selling is having documented reasoning and data to backup your pitch. Clients want to see why they should spend more money. A large part of your sales training should be focused on assessing customer needs and being able to provide substantial evidence that supports additional investments in their roof or exteriors.

It’s important for your sales teams to remember that homeowners are not experts - and its important to help them understand how upgrades can impact their home in terms of safety and longevity. Safety statistics, customer ratings, pictures, and weather pattern information can all be used as tools to convince your customer that what you’re selling is worth buying.

Step 5: Provide Price Breakdowns

Another important aspect of up-selling is clearly breaking down the price. No client is going to be happy if all of a sudden, their price has skyrocketed for reasons they do not completely understand. While part of up-selling is the ability to include extra expenses, doing so in a sneaky manner can be off-putting to a customer. So, make sure to break it down for them:

This upgrade is going to cost this much extra, and while that may seem like a lot, the value you gain from this product far outweighs the increased cost.

Build in your margins, additional material and labor costs into your up-sell quotes, so your customer isn’t surprised by the final cost.

Step 6: Know When to Offer Additional Products

Another time to approach an up-sell is to suggest the idea during or before a milestone. No one wants to do a project twice, and if you can suggest making cosmetic updates during functional ones, you might be surprised in how willing a customer is listen and spend the extra while they have a professional contractor already working for them.

Introducing up-sells after big accomplishments can also increase your chances of closing additional business. When a customer sees progress on their home, they are more likely to feel excited and enthusiastic to start another. Introducing projects slow can also alleviate any feelings of being overwhelmed by a project. Up-selling during milestones not only improves your chances of making more profits, it also will make the customer more comfortable and content with their decisions.

AccuLynx is the most powerful tool for your roofing business. Simple to use software, industry-leading tools and the best customer support -- AccuLynx makes it easy to grow faster than your competition.